Abstract
Distributed energy storage technologies (DES) are expected to help in decarbonising the power sector, decentralising power sources and meeting the mismatch between the produced and consumed energy. However, the likelihood of the use and acceptance of these technologies will partly hinge on public perceptions. Here, we present results of three focus groups and dialogue from the city of Leeds (UK) held with members the lay public with and without personal experience of technology (photovoltaic panels) about public perceptions of distributed energy storage technologies at household and community scale. We apply and adapt the Energy Cultures framework, which was initially developed for understanding energy behaviours as mediated by individual psychological factors, by practice-based, energy-related culture and infrastructural elements. Accordingly, we connect what people think, do and have in energy contexts, to better understand perceptions of DES technologies as part of a broader renewable energy landscape (culture) that is both materially and socially constructed. We show how a variety of elements such as forms of energy consumption; costs; expectations of family members; previous experiences; perceptions of government and the municipal authority; and expectations about the technologies, are likely to shape acceptance and adoption of battery storage at the household and community level.
Highlights
A move towards less centralised, more integrated and interactive energy systems is increasingly understood as crucial to meet future energy challenges, supporting the development of a low-carbon electricity systems and helping to integrate renewable energy into future energy supply [1,2]
The core research questions are: (i) what are the characteristics of the prevailing energy culture(s) within which Distributed energy storage technologies (DES) will need to operate; and (ii) what issues do these raise for public acceptance of DES? we use the Energy Cultures framework (ECF) both to explore the prevailing energy culture, and to identify how norms, material culture and practices relating to energy may be influential in supporting the adoption of DES
Our main concern in this paper is to identify and comment on aspects of the existing energy culture that are likely to impinge on the acceptability of domestic and community level energy storage
Summary
A move towards less centralised, more integrated and interactive energy systems is increasingly understood as crucial to meet future energy challenges, supporting the development of a low-carbon electricity systems and helping to integrate renewable energy into future energy supply [1,2]. DES infrastructure located close to energy demand loads has the potential to provide key system and user-level benefits that cannot be provided by storage located at other points in the system, such as household-level peak demand shaving and embedded generation [4]. DES generation and storage sources should provide the end user with local resilience, as well as assist grid operation by managing demand in such a way as to reduce peak loads. We know neither how the scenario of DES as providing these benefits is perceived nor how they will be perceived in future, by end users themselves. Such information, we suggest, would be useful for informing the policy design and communication strategies of both commercial and public sector actors
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